Kiwifruit extracts inhibit cytokine production by lipopolysaccharide-activated macrophages, and intestinal epithelial cells isolated from IL10 gene deficient mice

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract involving an inappropriate immune response to commensal microorganisms in a genetically susceptible host. This study examined the effects of aqueous and ethyl acetate extracts of gold kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) or green kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) using in vitro models of IBD. These models comprised primary macrophages and intestinal epithelial cells isolated from C57BL/5J and interleukin-10 gene deficient (Il10^−/−) mice and RAW 264.7, a murine macrophage-like cell line. All four kiwifruit extracts reduced the activation of these models after lipopolysaccharide stimulation, decreasing nitric oxide and cytokine secretion by both Il10^−/− and wild-type cells. The ethyl acetate extracts exhibited the highest anti-inflammatory activity, with almost complete suppression of lipopolysaccharide-stimulated macrophage activation. These results suggest that kiwifruit extracts have significant anti-inflammatory activity relevant to IBD. We suggest that the Il10^−/− mouse is a suitable model for further study of these compounds.     

马鞍列岛褐菖鲉Sebasticus marmoratus栖息地适宜性评价

为了评估趋礁鱼类在岛礁海域的生境适宜度,选取马鞍列岛的褐菖鲉(Sebasticus marmoratus)为指示物种,以2009年获取的水深、盐度、叶绿素a、浊度和底质数据作为褐菖鲉春、冬季栖息地指示因子,建立栖息地适宜度曲线,并计算各站点的栖息地适宜性指数(HSI)。结果显示:1)绿华、花鸟、嵊山沿岸站点HSI普遍较低,枸杞岛、三横山、东库山沿岸站点褐菖鲉HSI相对较高,其中最大值1.0出现在枸杞岛沿岸的站点;2)春季褐菖鲉幼鱼的适宜水深在6 m左右,成鱼适宜在8—12 m的水深处生存;冬季褐菖鲉对8—12 m的水深适宜性良好;3)春季所有褐菖鲉的适宜盐度为30PSU,冬季幼鱼的适宜盐度为27—31PSU,成鱼的适宜盐度为27PSU、31PSU;4)随着叶绿素a和浊度值的增大,褐菖鲉适宜性逐渐降低。底质类型为岩时最适合褐菖鲉生存。5)相关分析显示,褐菖鲉丰度与底质类型相关性最大,而与叶绿素a、浊度呈显著负相关。研究结果表明,初级生产力和浑浊程度越高对褐菖鲉丰度抑制越明显。底质类型是褐菖鲉丰度分布的重要影响因子,其中分布有较多大型海藻的岩礁生境是其最适宜的栖息地。利用2010年春、冬季环境调查和渔获数据进行HSI模型验证,资源丰度随HSI值升高而增加,因此构建的模型可用于趋礁鱼类在岛礁海域的栖息地适宜性分析。     

Incidence of Alternaria Species Associated with Watermelon Leaf Blight in Korea

Alternaria leaf blight is one of the most common diseases in watermelon worldwide. In Korea, however, the Alternaria species causing the watermelon leaf blight have not been investigated thoroughly. A total of 16 Alternaria isolates was recovered from diseased watermelon leaves with leaf blight symptoms, which were collected from 14 fields in Korea. Analysis of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), and RNA polymerase II second largest subunit (RPB2) were not competent to differentiate the Alternaria isolates. On the contrary, analysis of amplicon size of the histone H3 (HIS3) gene successfully differentiated the isolates into three Alternaria subgroups, and further sequence analysis of them identified three Alternaria spp. Alternaria tenuissima, A. gaisen, and A. alternata. Representative Alternaria isolates from three species induced dark brown leaf spot lesions on detached watermelon leaves, indicating that A. tenuissima, A. gaisen, and A. alternata are all causal agents of Alternaria leaf blight. Our results indicate that the Alternaria species associated watermelon leaf blight in Korea is more complex than reported previously. This is the first report regarding the population structure of Alternaria species causing watermelon leaf blight in Korea.     

PDE7A1 hydrolyzes cCMP

The degradation and biological role of the cyclic pyrimidine nucleotide cCMP is largely elusive. We investigated nucleoside 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate (cNMP) specificity of six different recombinant phosphodiesterases (PDEs) by using a highly-sensitive HPLC–MS/MS detection method. PDE7A1 was the only enzyme that hydrolyzed significant amounts of cCMP. Enzyme kinetic studies using purified GST-tagged truncated PDE7A1 revealed a cCMP K_M value of 135 ± 19 μM. The V_max for cCMP hydrolysis reached 745 ± 27 nmol/(min mg), which is about 6-fold higher than the corresponding velocity for adenosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) degradation. In summary, PDE7A is a high-speed and low-affinity PDE for cCMP.     

基于HIS模型建立肝病知识库对军队医院的作用及意义

目的:通过整合302医院丰富的肝病病例、肝病专家诊疗经验和临床科研数据,建立肝病知识库,提高基础资源辅助临床诊疗和科研的能力。方法:对肝病智能知识模型进行分析,获取知识库中结构化知识,并以知识库模型的形式建立知识库,形成一套独立、可重复的智能化的辅助诊疗和科研信息系统,实现知识库辅助临床诊疗、知识科学研究,最大程度发挥知识库的意义,真正为临床服务。结果:建立的基于HIS的肝病知识库主要编配于医疗单位,适用于临床医护人员、临床科研人员以及所有从事医疗行业的工作人员。医护工作者可通过程序访问知识库,对知识库中的肝病知识进行检索、分析、推理,辅助临床医护工作者提高临床诊疗能力,提升临床科研水平。结论:建立的肝病知识库系统为用户提供横向及纵向医疗基础信息的检索、分析及推理方法。推理出的合适的知识模型,为肝病的临床诊疗和临床科研提供前沿、实用、高效的智能辅助信息支持。     

基于医学信息数据仓库模型的数据挖掘

利用数据仓库和数据挖掘技术,以现有医院信息系统HIS及医学信息资源为基础,基于PC和Windows操作系统,利用SQL Server2005及SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services（SSAS）等软件,搭建了医学信息数据仓库模型,并运用数据挖掘技术抽取数据库中数据隐藏的规律,提高医学信息的利用率。为从错综复杂的、庞大的医学信息库中提取有价值的决策支持信息提供有效的途径和方法。     

Apparent Epigenetic Meiotic Double-Strand-Break Disparity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: A Meta-Analysis

Previously published, and some unpublished, tetrad data from budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) are analyzed for disparity in gene conversion, in which one allele is more often favored than the other (conversion disparity). One such disparity, characteristic of a bias in the frequencies of meiotic double-strand DNA breaks at the hotspot near the His4 locus, is found in diploids that undergo meiosis soon after their formation, but not in diploids that have been cloned and frozen. Altered meiotic DNA breakability associated with altered metabolism-related chromatin states has been previously reported. However, the above observations imply that such differing parental chromatin states can persist through at least one chromosome replication, and probably more, in a common environment. This conclusion may have implications for interpreting changes in allele frequencies in populations.     

Novel protein interactors of urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor

The urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) has been implicated in tumor growth and metastasis. The crystal structure of uPAR revealed that the external surface is largely free to interact with a number of proteins. Additionally, due to absence of an intracellular cytoplasmic protein domain, many of the biological functions of uPAR necessitate interactions with other proteins. Here, we used yeast two-hybrid screening of breast cancer cDNA library to identify hSpry1 and HAX1 proteins as putative candidate proteins that interact with uPAR bait constructs. Interaction between these two candidates and uPAR was confirmed by GST-pull down, co-immunoprecipitation assays and confocal microscopy. These novel interactions that have been identified may also provide further evidence that uPAR can interact with a number of other proteins which may influence a range of biological functions.     

Mutagenicity of methylated N-nitrosopiperidines in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

N-Nitrosopiperidine (NP) and a number of methylated derivatives were examined for mutagenicity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. NP, 2-methyl-NP, 3-methyl-NP, 4-methyl-NP and 3,5-dimethyl-NP were mutagens when metabolic activation (rat-liver microsomes) was provided. 2,6-Dimethyl-NP was not a mutagen. The NPs giving a positive response stimulated forward mutation to canavanine resistance (CAN1 leads to can1) and reversion of the his1-7 missense marker. Neither locus revertants nor suppressors of the lys1-1 ochre marker were induced, nor were revertants of the putative frameshift hom3-10.